In previous studies, Knowledge Management (KM) strategies have been examined as objects of organizations, instead of scrutinizing their characteristics or relative quality and content. This study aims to examine the key characteristics of KM strategies in Agricultural Research Organizations (AROs) in East Africa in terms of what exists, what does not exist and why. To comprehensively answer the research questions and understand the phenomena under investigation the study adopted a pragmatism paradigm to allow facts and concerns to arise from the context. Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed using semi-structured Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and a questionnaire respectively. A novel empirical description and explanation of the key characteristics of KM strategies in AROs in East Africa is presented. The study identifies the key concepts and gaps in the characteristics of KM strategies and elucidates what AROs in East Africa should do differently to coherently formulate and execute KM strategies in practice. The main characteristics of KM strategies in AROs in East Africa are practicability, technology-focus, alignment, implementation processes and relevance. Through abstraction and theorization of the key concepts, a detailed description and explanation as a reference for scholars and practitioners in the KM field is provided. Further, the study highlights context as an important and relevant perspective in particularizing the characteristics of a KM strategy and interpretation of related empirical findings. Future studies can use the concepts presented in this study to develop a theoretical framework for analyzing the characteristics of KM strategies in organizations. The idea of linking the study outcome to an empirical situation is a novel contribution. The findings of this study shed new insights that confirm that understanding characteristics of KM strategies is beneficial to practitioners and scholars.

在以前的研究中，知识管理（KM）策略已作为组织的对象进行了研究，而不是研究其特征或相对质量和内容。这项研究旨在从存在的，不存在的以及为什么的角度研究东非农业研究组织（ARO）的KM策略的关键特征。为了全面回答研究问题并了解所研究的现象，研究采用了实用主义范式，以允许从上下文中得出事实和关注点。定性和定量方法分别使用半结构的关键信息访问者（KII）和调查表。对东非地区ARO中KM策略的关键特征进行了新颖的经验描述和解释。该研究确定了知识管理战略特征中的关键概念和差距，并阐明了东非的区域办事处在实践中应采取哪些不同措施来连贯地制定和执行知识管理战略。东非ARO的KM策略的主要特征是实用性，技术重点，一致性，实施过程和相关性。通过对关键概念的抽象和理论化，提供了详细的说明和解释，以供KM领域的学者和从业人员参考。此外，该研究突出了上下文，将其作为重要且相关的观点，以具体说明知识管理策略的特征和相关经验结果的解释。未来的研究可以使用本研究中提出的概念来开发理论框架，以分析组织中的KM策略的特征。将研究结果与实际情况联系起来的想法是一种新颖的贡献。这项研究的发现提供了新的见解，证实了对知识管理策略特征的理解对从业者和学者都是有益的。